1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hardware for supporting draperies in windows and similar architectural features.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since well before modern times, architectural apertures (windows and passageways) in homes and buildings have featured curved perimeters, the arched window being a common example. Frequently, plans for the interior design of a home or building having such apertures calls for draperies to fill or cover all or part of the apertures. When the portion to be covered is bounded, at least in part, by curved surfaces, such as when the uppermost portion of an arched window is to be covered, standard curtain rods cannot be used.
Prior to the present invention, a suitable apparatus for supporting a drapery along a curved perimeter constituted a specially designed and manufactured traverse rod assembly made to conform to the specific dimensions of the particular architectural aperture in which a drapery was to be installed. In addition to the expense involved in having a unique curtain rod assembly designed and manufactured, errors in manufacturing, damage in transit and/or faulty installation often rendered such a curtain rod assembly unusable or unsightly.
Inexpensive alternatives to specially fabricated curtain rod assemblies have been proposed. Such seemingly economical alternatives have proven to be unacceptable in practice, however. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,255,990 issued to P. Stratton discloses a curtain rod bracket assembly which is designed for supporting a standard curtain rod in a curved orientation. As those experienced in use of such standard curtain rods are aware, little more than the slightest bending of a standard curtain rod will result in buckling in one or more places along the rod. Further, even if the rod does not buckle, a uniform curvature is nearly impossible to achieve using a standard curtain rod with the bracket assembly shown in the Stratton patent.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,790,558 and 2,890,799 issued to H. Rosenbaum each disclose a flexible traverse rod for conforming to curved window or passageway perimeters. The Rosenbaum traverse rods are shown made of a channel-shaped metallic member with a plurality of slots formed in the intended convex side of the traverse rod. These slots permit the metallic member to be formed into a curved shape with the slots opening at their apex to evenly distribute the deformation along the metallic member and thereby achieve an acceptably uniform curvature.
A serious limitation of the Rosenbaum constitution traverse rods relates to the presence of the slots. The slots formed in the metallic member produce sharp edges and corners which, when coming into contact with the expensive drapery fabric, tends to snag or tear the fabric. This not only damages the fabric, but makes threading the drapery onto the rod very difficult.
It would, therefore, be advantageous to devise an apparatus and/or a method for installing draperies in windows or passageways having curved boundaries, which apparatus or method would provide a substantially economical alternative to specially designed and manufactured curtain rod assemblies and to the undesirable alternatives to such curtain rod assemblies which have been shown in the prior art.